The open war between Estudiantes de La Plata and AFA has added a decisive episode in recent hours. After the Disciplinary Tribunal summoned the club to submit its defense for allegedly failing to comply with the "champion's guard of honor" protocol, the institution led by Juan Sebastián Verón already has a defense prepared that targets the very heart of Argentine football leadership.
According to the club, AFA may have committed a "cybercrime" by publishing a bulletin that—La Plata officials claim—did not exist on the official website before the match, and may have been created and edited on November 23 at 19:21 (7:21 p.m.), that is, when the match against Rosario Central had already ended.
The document in question, bulletin 6625, establishes how the champion's guard of honor should be carried out and sets possible sporting sanctions for those who do not comply. However, Estudiantes officials state that this resolution was uploaded to the official site after Pincha's 1-0 victory over Central in the Clausura quarterfinals, and only then did it become available for public consultation.
The controversy is significant because this bulletin introduces an element that did not exist until now: "The application of the sanctions provided for in AFA's Disciplinary Code, both for the players involved and, if applicable, for the club to which they belong." Until that moment, protocol violations fell under the ODT regulations of the Professional League, which only provided for administrative and financial sanctions, not sporting ones.
